News Analysis India

Tag: BJP

  • Madhya Pradesh: After Digvijaya Singh video on unity surfaces on social media, BJP says Kamal Nath is target

    By PTI

    BHOPAL: A video showing Congress Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh exhorting party leaders to stand united failing which it would be tough to find workers post the 2023 Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh surfaced on social media on Sunday, leading to the ruling BJP saying it was yet another example of “groupism” gripping the grand old party.

    The video, which has been purportedly shot in Ratlam, has Singh telling party workers about the urgent need for unity.

    “You are not ready to sit together. I am here but you are standing separately…This will not do. I am telling you the election of 2023 (Assembly elections of Madhya Pradesh) will be the last one. If you will not contest elections honestly then be ready to sit at home. The Congress will not make a comeback and even finding workers (for the party) will be hard,” he says in the video.

    Ratlam District Congress (City) president Mahendra Kataria told PTI Singh was speaking to party workers outside the local circuit house on Saturday.

    “On Saturday morning, Singh told party workers who had come to meet him to gather at the lawn. He expressed displeasure after seeing the workers who came from Jaora (a town in Ratlam district) standing in groups separately. So, he told them to be united,” Kataria said.

    Mocking the Congress over the video, state BJP secretary Rajneesh Agrawal said Singh was highlighting groupism in the party and that the video was aimed at unseating Kamal Nath as the state unit president.

    “Singh already knows the truth that it is a distant dream for Congress to regain power in MP in 2023. He knows his party will become non-existent after that. However, Singh purposefully mentioned groupism in the party in the video to highlight that all this was happening under the leadership of Kamal Nath,” Agrawal claimed.

  • Two sitting corporators of Lucknow Municipal Corporation in UP poll battle

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: In the poll fray from the state capital, two sitting corporators of the Lucknow Municipal Corporation and an ex corporator exude confidence that they have an edge over other candidates as they are armed with a better understanding of the ground situation and problems facing locals.

    Among the sitting corporators of the Lucknow Municipal Corporation, BJP’s Rajneesh Gupta is contesting from Lucknow Central.

    Gupta is a four-time corporator from Yahiyganj ward in the state capital.

    Mamta Chaudhary, who is contesting the assembly election from Mohanlalgnj assembly constituency on a Congress ticket, is a corporator of Malviya Nagar ward.

    Former corporator from Motilal Nehru Nagar Charanjeet Gandhi is in the poll fray from Lucknow Cantonment seat on a SP ticket.

    His wife is currently the corporator from Motilal Nehru ward.

    Speaking to PTI, Chaudhary said, “If a corporator becomes an MLA, he/she knows the ground situation of the locality and the entire neighbourhood, and can hence solve the problems of the people.”

    “The biggest problem in Mohanlalganj is that none of the previous state governments had built a women’s degree college. As a result of this, the education of girls has suffered. This is despite the fact that the local MP from Mohanlalganj is from the BJP,” she said.

    “The BJP did not build any community marriage hall in Mohanlalganj,” she said and added that arranging clean drinking water will be a challenge for her.

    She exuded confidence that the Congress will spring surprises in the 2022 Assembly elections.

    Gupta said the BJP will win over 300 seats in the ongoing Assembly elections, and will continue to serve the people with its mantra of ‘sabka saath, sabka vishwas’.

    He added that being a corporator makes it easy to understand the problem of the people, and accordingly devise a step to resolve them.

    A corporator is well-versed with the topography of the area, and will take less time to adjust himself or herself as per the need of the hour.

    “Resolving the problems of traffic jams and water-logging, which takes place in the area primarily due to narrow lanes, are my priority,” he said.

    Similar views were also expressed by Gandhi, who feels that corporators’ experience in dealing with the problem of the people, will definitely help them to solve the woes of the public.

    He also said that their experience of contesting elections, and then working for the public virtually throughout the day, gives them an edge over other candidates.

    Corporator from Maithli Sharan Gupt ward Dilip Srivastava, who is campaigning for Gupta, said, “By resolving the problems of the people on a daily basis, the corporators have accumulated a significant experience. And, it should gradually help them in resolving the problems of the public on a larger level”.

    Lucknow will vote in the fourth phase of the Assembly polls on February 23.

    Srivastava notes that former state minister Lalji Tandon and current minister Mahendra Singh have both been corporators in Lucknow.

    Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma had served as mayor of Lucknow for two times.

  • Samajwadi Party ruled UP with appeasement blindfold over king’s eyes: Nadda

    The BJP national president also attacked the Samajwadi Party for its alleged family-oriented politics.

  • ‘RSS did not play any role in freedom struggle’: Gehlot

    He said Congress leaders made many sacrifices before and after the independence and the people of BJP and RSS are suffering from some kind of guilt.

  • DMK MP Kanimozhi slams BJP over hijab row, says it turns people against people

    By ANI

    CHENNAI: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Kanimozhi on Saturday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party over the ongoing hijab row in Karnataka and alleged that they turn people against people. She said that what a woman chooses to wear is her right.

    Speaking to the reporters after casting her vote at St Ebbas Girls Higher Secondary School, Chennai in the ongoing Urban Local Body Elections in 38 districts of Tamil Nadu, Kanimozhi said, “It’s very sad that they turn people against people in the name of religion. What a woman chooses to wear is her right. I don’t think anybody has the right to decide whether it is too much or too little.”

    Talking about the ongoing local body polls, the DMK MP said that the people are satisfied with the work of the state government which will reflect in the results of the polls.

    “People are very satisfied with the DMK government, and I think that will definitely be reflected in the verdict of the local body elections. It will be a very good victory for the DMK,” she said.

    ALSO READ | Hijab row, FIR filed against 15 girl students in Karnataka’s Tumakuru

    Earlier today, Chief Minister MK Stalin cast his vote at a polling booth at SIET College in Teynampet, and urged people to cast their votes and exercise their democratic rights while voting for the local body elections in 38 districts of Tamil Nadu was underway.

    Speaking to reporters, CM Stalin said, “Mahatma Gandhi had mentioned the importance of civic bodies in the Indian polity. The civic bodies help the government schemes to reach out to the people. People should compulsorily vote.”

    He further said, “A couple of days, AIADMK MLA SO Velumani staged a protest, demanding the deployment of Paramilitary forces in the city. This is nothing other than just a drama.”

    The CM also said, “While casting their votes, people are complaining against certain initiatives and we assure action will be taken according to its merit.” He also said that the DMK alliance would win all the 21 corporation elections. 

  • BJP, Trinamool workers scuffle after trading barbs during Suvendu Adhikari’s rally

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Workers of the Trinamool Congress and the BJP engaged in a scuffle in West Bengal’s Purba Medinipur district on Friday, after accusing each other of making abusive comments.

    The incident occurred when Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP, was campaigning for party candidates in the Contai Municipality election to be held on February 27.

    TMC candidate in ward number 13 Suprakash Giri alleged that Adhikari and those accompanying him made abusive comments against party supremo Mamata Banerjee while passing by the TMC election office near a supermarket triggering protest by those present there.

    Adhikari’s brother Soumendu, on the other hand, claimed that it was the TMC workers to made objectionable remarks against the Nandigram MLA.

    A scuffle ensued and the central security personnel accompanying Adhikari shielded him.

    Giri alleged that Adhikari’s security personnel, instigated by the MLA, went inside the TMC office and beat him up injuring him.

    Accompanied by TMC workers, Giri launched a sit-in before the local police station protesting against alleged excesses by the security personnel of Adhikari.

    Earlier in the day, while campaigning in ward number 6, Adhikari was greeted with the popular ‘Khela Hobe’ (there will be a game) slogan by ruling party activists.

    BJP workers accompanying Adhikari then chanted ‘Jai Shri Ram’.

    “Some jihadis are trying to heckle me in Kanthi. But the majority of the people of Contai are on my side,” Adhikari said.

  • Punjab polls: Cong promises financial assistance to women, 1 lakh govt jobs

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: The Congress on Friday released its manifesto for the February 20 Punjab Assembly polls, promising Rs 1,100 per month for women, eight free cooking gas cylinders per year and one lakh government jobs.

    The party also promised to end the mafia raj by creating corporations for the sale of liquor and sand mining.

    Addressing the media here, state party chief Navjot Singh Sidhu said the party’s government will procure oilseed, pulses and corn from farmers.

    The Congress manifesto has come on the last day of the campaigning for the Assembly polls. Sidhu said the party’s 13-point agenda reflects Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s vision.

    Sidhu said if the Congress returns to power, it first decision will be to give one lakh government jobs.

    Homemakers will be given Rs 1,100 per month as financial assistance besides eight cooking gas cylinders per year, Sidhu said.

    Oilseed, pulses and corn will be procured from farmers, he added.

  • Uttar Pradesh February 20 polls: SP fields 52 crorepati candidates, BJP 48

    The Bahujan Samaj Party has fielded 46 such candidates while the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party have 29 and 18 contestants, respectively.

  • INTERVIEW| Bringing down BJP from power our priority: CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury

    Express News Service

    Bringing down the Modi government is the top priority for the Left, which will consider the possibility of joining any third front or opposition alliance only after this objective is achieved, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury told Rajesh Kumar Thakur in an interview.

    Excerpts: 

    Do you think a Third Front imperative to challenge the BJP’s hegemony in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections?

    At present, talking about the Third Front is mere speculation. In Indian politics, so far pre-poll coalitions in parliamentary elections have not been successful. They have succeeded only in state elections. Was there a pre-poll alliance in 2004?

    The UPA was formed after the elections and ruled for two terms. Currently, the need is that all opposition parties first fight strongly to defeat the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and then think about a post-poll coalition.

    Would the CPM go with the TMC if the latter forges a non-Congress, non-BJP front with parties like TRS, DMK?

    Again, I am repeating that talks about pre-poll alliances or Third Front are premature. The TMC, just a few days ago, had marred the local bodies’ elections in West Bengal with violence. In Bengal, the CPM lost 229 comrades between 2011 and 2021 and around 1,02,000 sympathisers were driven away from their homes. More than 1,30,000 of our members were implicated in false cases.

    The TMC, having been a part of the BJP-led NDA, is today ranged against the BJP. But it continues with its anti-CPM actions. It is aspiring to be the leader of the anti-BJP forces at the national level. We are neither against such aspirations of any party nor in support till we pull down the BJP from power.

    In its draft political resolution, the CPM has noted that the Congress party’s political strength is on a decline. Will you be inclined towards joining a coalition led by it?

    Our objective is to defeat the BJP in the next parliamentary elections. Whichever party in opposition works on this objective, we can have an ‘electoral understanding’ with them for the common goal… There can’t be a political alliance with the Congress party. But the CPM will continue supporting all secular parties in their efforts to defeat the BJP.

    TMC supremo and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee recently telephoned her Tamil Nadu and Telangana counterparts suggesting a meeting of all opposition CMs over governors overstepping constitutional mandate in non-BJP states. Will the CM of your party join such a meeting if it is held?

    This does not carry much political significance for us. The most important task for us is to educate and polarise the people against the BJP-led government that has ruined the future of the youth. 

    Will the results of state polls have a bearing on opposition strategies against the BJP?

    Yes, they will. But despite that, there is a need to work objectively to make the people aware of the BJP-led government’s utter failure in sorting out country’s basic problems. At the national level, five Left parties have given joint calls for action on various issues and we will continue fighting to first pull down the BJP from power and then think of anything further.

    It is said that the Opposition lacks a face to counter Modi. With this handicap, how will they be able to oust the BJP?

    Let me make it clear that it’s not a presidential election that will be held in 2024 for which a face is required. It is the parliamentary elections, which will be fought on issues plaguing the country’s prosperity and peace.  

  • BJP’s double-engine govt gave impetus to develop, established rule of law in UP: Jitendra Singh

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Thursday claimed that Uttar Pradesh had an “atmosphere of riots and anarchy” which changed under the BJP’s “double-engine government” that gave impetus to the development and established the rule of law.

    He claimed the attack on Union Minister S P Singh Baghel, the BJP candidate pitted against Akhilesh Yadav in Karhal, makes evident the “desperation” of the Samajwadi Party chief who is “sensing defeat” in the Assembly polls.

    The senior BJP leader accused Akhilesh Yadav of trying to foist a ‘danga (riot) raaj’ in Uttar Pradesh, so that “criminals associated with Samajwadi Party will have a free run to loot”.

    The people of the state have seen the atmosphere of riots and anarchy in Uttar Pradesh for years. Even the law-and-order machinery and castes were used for political interests, Jitendra Singh alleged.

    Singh claimed that in previous governments, be it of the Congress or the Samajwadi Party, MPs and MLAs belonged to the same family.

    “Promotion of family interests and caste politics were the bedrocks of the Akhilesh Yadav government and that’s an irony as socialists can’t be dynasts.

    ” People have not forgotten that ‘mafia era’ and will make sure the BJP returns to power with a thumping majority, Jitendra Singh claimed.

    “Under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the double-engine government has turned Uttar Pradesh into a dynamic state where people are happy. Those attacking us are promoting anarchy in despair of defeat,” he told reporters here.

    A value-based system has been established by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the country which Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath tried to implement in Uttar Pradesh, Jitendra Singh claimed.

    He also accused Akhilesh Yadav of demoralising policemen by making inappropriate remarks on policemen.

    “By doing so, he is raising the morale of the unruly elements of his party. People will not allow the goons and mafia to return,” Jitendra Singh claimed.